Who Dances In Glass?
by SanguisRubeus
Summary: Two different times, two very different people and two lives lived. Yet, it's only one love and only one more chance to get it right. Prideshipping along with Scandal but also Heart/Theif/Polar/Persevereships included along with other ships that pass by. RXR! Update postponed until 11/22 or 23.
1. An Ending at the Beginning

**Hello everyone! **

**I'm back and I have a new fic with me! Alright, let me explain this one a bit before we enter its universe. Okay?**

**Okay, I have recently fallen in love with Prideshipping and was intrigued with Scandalshipping. Prideshipping was so much fun to read I mean, I was laughing and then the videos they had on it on Youtube were great! So while I was reading one story where it was a fairy tale, I thought: there needs to be more fairy tales like this… Then I noticed which story plot I had yet to read and, believe me, I was reading things back from 2009. The one I hadn't seen was something Cinderella based. Then I thought: I did one of those for Pokemon… **

**The difference between this fic and my Pokemon one is this: My muse for this one is from the movie 'Ever After' (The one with Derw Berrymore) and 'A Cinderella Story' (Hillary Duff and Chad Michael Murray were in that one) If you haven't seen either of these films, that's fine. I'm not going to base my fic exactly on both movies. There are going to be things I'll change. Another thing is that unlike my Pokemon one, I want this one to be my serious fic with a dash there and a pinch here of comedy rather than pure comedy with a bit of seriousness. **

**With all of that being said,****  
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**Enjoy the prologue~!**

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Prologue: An Ending at the Beginning

The clouds were dark and pregnant with the water that was soon to pour down. It was rather fitting, thought the young man as he was facing the sky. All he had wanted was for someone to love him for who he was and just when he found someone…_this_ happened. The young man was dressed in an elaborate costume that seemed to make him look something of a butterfly… _A broken butterfly_, he thought bitterly. His breath was becoming hoarse but that was fine. As long as he wasn't found by the love of his life, then things were going to be fine.

"NO!"

The young man sent his glare up at the sky with a look that said that fate just had to want to be a bitch like that didn't it? His crimson eyes hazily gazed upon the ice blue eyes of the one he loved most. He saw how those eyes that had enthralled him so much were wide in the horror they were seeing. He inwardly snorted, he must have been a sight to see, sprawled out on the castle grounds with a large wound on his side that was bleeding effortlessly. The crimson eyed man on the floor, ironically, looked rather at peace with himself. It was as if he had already accepted the fact that he was dying long before the man staring at the sight had even registered the idea. The blue-eyed man knelt next to the other and gathered the other into his arms. _Now here comes the drama…_thought the bleeding one as he ran a hand though his tri-coloured hair for the last time.

"A-Atem," The man holding him croaked, "You can't leave like this!"

Atem smiled lightly in response, "It's great that I at least get to tell you good bye…Seth."

Seth's heart broke more than it was before. Everything was going to well! Why of all things, did this crap have to happen to them?! He wanted to scream at the sky that now gave birth to the fallen rain. He gazed at the love of his life and how serene he looked at the moment. Seth bit his lip and held his breath to prevent himself from actually showing how he was feeling. He knew that Atem wouldn't want him to break down over this.

"Don't you dare even talk like that you fool!" Seth exclaimed while shaking his head, "Once I get you to the healer, you'll be alright. Then we can be together just as we planned…as we promised each other."

Atem shook his head, "Don't you dare kid yourself. You know better than anyone else that I'm not going to be alright. Oh don't look that sad. We might not have had our happy ending in this life but we are going to get it in the next life, that I promise you that with everything that I am and more."

Atem was right and Seth knew that but the chestnut haired man refused to believe that. He knew he was kidding himself but he had the right to be stubborn and he was going to refuse that his lover was dying in front of him even if it killed him! As much as he didn't want to admit it, those words his love spoke gave him hope but then his logic and doubt began to cloud his mind. Were they really going to have a second chance? Was that even possible for that to happen? His dear Atem sounded so confidant in this little ray of light that even this pessimistic man was slowly getting some sort of faith in this idea that they were going to meet and fall in love all over again in the next life. It was a miracle that they fell in love the first time around imagining how it was going to be a second time was practically impossible. Even if they were born again, who was to say that they were even going to fall in love again? Surely they weren't going to be the same way as they were at this moment in time. Sensing Seth's doubt, Atem squeezed his hand had tight as he could. It was difficult, his eye sight was beginning to blur.

He made sure to focus on those blue orbs, "You have to have faith Seth! I love you dearly. With that in mind I have faith that our love is strong enough to withstand this temporary setback, don't you?"

"Yes, I believe. I love you dearly as well and I can't wait for us to meet again in this next life of ours," Seth replied softly.

As if that was the only thing that had held him back, Atem shuddered and slowly let out the breath that was going to be his last. Those crimson orbs lost their light and were soon hidden by the eyelids while his body went limp in his lover's arms. Upon the realization that the man he was holding was no longer among the living, Seth cried out a mighty cry of anguish and clutched the body that was only getting colder.

"We better meet again Atem," He said as he gave the other a kiss on the cheek, "So I can kill you for doing this to me…after I kiss you again, naturally."

He knew that his dear had been alive to hear him say that, the other would have laughed and said something back to him. The rain was falling harder now but he didn't care, he was busy trying to get up and getting him and the body of his love out of the pouring rain.

Elsewhere, within eyesight of the entire private moment, three figures laughed. Finally Atem was dead and gone and things were going to change for them. For the better, they thought.

A little aways from the palace, a figure of a man was attempting to wash his hands and his dagger of the blood that was on it. He had been obsessed with obtaining Atem as something to own. He never thought that he would actually kill the other male. He cried softly and prayed to whatever gods that were hearing him to at least give him a second chance to make it up to them.

In yet another part, two figures were crying in despair in each other's arms. Their dear friend Atem didn't get the happy ending that he deserved more than anyone else. They also prayed to the heavens to give their dear friend, or perhaps all of them, a second chance to get everything right.

Little did they know that someone was listening to all of what was going on. This majestic person was going to grant them all the chance for a second chance at life to get everything right. But his magic was only able to grant them all one more chance, even the three that were celebrating Atem's death. If they messed this one up, then there wasn't going to be another change like this ever again.

Life was a gift and they needed to use the precious time they were going to have in the next life, more wisely than they all did this time…

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**Soo….what did you think? LET ME KNOW BY REVIEWING!**

**I do have most of chapter one written and depending how many reviews I get depends on how early you'll be seeing it next week. So please review~ I dearly appreciate it!**

**So the title of this prologue is kind of play on a name of a song. If you know the name of the song and the band, let me know. And I'll either give you a cameo in the fic or…a cookie. Whichever you choose!**

**With love, **

**SanguisRubeus**


	2. Is There Something Missing?

**Hi there~!**

**Well here is the official chapter one! I'm rather happy with it and I'm excited to say it's my longest chapter one as of yet. I hope that it entertains you.**

**Okie dokie, this chapter also has a flashback sequence going on in it as well. The flash back part takes place BEFORE the prologue takes place. I don't want people to get confused. There is also some text messaging that is going on but I think you all can understand that one. **

**Oh and I want to thank my two reviewers! So thank you to **_itsallguchicauseyolo _**and anonymous reviewer **_Ariana_**. I really appreciate your reviews and I hope I hear what you have to say on this chapter.**

**On with the fic!****  
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Chapter One: Is There Something Missing?

The sun proudly shined over Domino, making the mansion glisten brightly in the light. The property where this mansion was in was huge. There were two small houses on the property as well. In one of the small houses, a girl with short brown hair got up. She stretched a bit and yawned before getting ready for school that day. While she was brushing her teeth, she heard someone else get up and soon was joined by a guy with blonde hair. He looked exhausted and soon she got worried for a second. If he was tired then…

"Mornin' Anzu," The blonde boy said.

She replied, "Good morning Jou…say…what time did you both get in last night?"

"Close to midnight I think…Why?" He said after thinking about it.

Her blue eyes widened in shock, "That late? What the hell was taking you both so long?"

"Inventory was being a bitch," He said while rolling his eyes in annoyance.

If Jou was going to say something else, he didn't have a chance to as Anzu had taken off to yet another room in that house. She stopped in front of a door and paused for a moment, as if debating if she should open it or not. Not too long into her mini-debate, Jou decided to join her outside the door. They stared at each other for a moment before deciding they might as well open the door and get it over with. Anzu finally opened the door, after a staring match with Jou to find the third and final resident asleep.

"Yami?" Anzu called out.

The boy, who had been sleeping peacefully in bed, heard the voice calling out to him but he refused to even think about waking up. Inwardly, he groaned, it felt as if he had just closed his eyes before Anzu came in. He didn't want to wake up and would have preferred to keep dreaming about that mysterious guy that kept calling him by a different name. That name he was being called sounded nicer than his own name, but it would have been great if that guy said his name rather than calling him another person's name. Keeping his eyes closed he got comfortable again. His bed was so warm…why should he leave it.

"Come on! You have to get ready for school or else we're going to be late!" Jou said.

He groaned in response but otherwise he didn't bother moving at all. Unfortunately for him, his two friends were planning on pulling out all of the stops to make sure he was going to wake up. The teen girl looked at the clock, thankful that they were still on time but soon, they were going to be running late and she can't have. Thinking about what to say, Jou got a text message on his phone and smirked as he showed Anzu the message. Also smirking, the wheels began to turn in her head.

"Fine then, stay asleep and dream. Jou and I are going to meet up with everyone at Yugi's place and have his grandfather's homemade coffee cake and some hot chocolate," She said.

Instantly the boy shot up from the bed, "Like hell you are leaving me behind!"

Yami had a sweet tooth like none other they had ever known in their short lives. Jou and Anzu laughed lightly as their friend with tri-coloured haired friend began running like crazy to get dressed. It wasn't hard for him to pick out what to wear as their school had school uniforms. So needless to say, Yami was ready in shorter time than the other two had taken. Upon further inspection, Anzu frowned, both of her so called 'brothers-in-arms' had bags under their eyes.

"Mr. Moto is not going to like this one bit…" She mumbled as they headed toward the car.

The car they had (Jou drove it as Anzu didn't like the car and Yami was reckless at driving) was a very old car. They thought it had to have been a miracle that it hadn't broken down just yet. Once they had gotten into their respected seats (Yami normally had shotgun) Jou took off as quietly as he could because he didn't want to wake up the residents of the mansion.

Yami rolled his eyes, "I don't see why we have to be so quiet for…"

"Do you want to be yelled at by Pegasus because you ruined his 'beauty rest'? If so then you take the wheel," Jou replied, "Trust me, you don't want to hear his bitching. I'm saving all of our asses by doing this. The moment we hit the street, I'm flooring this car…"

At the mention of the owner of the mansion, Pegasus, the three of them mellowed. Pegasus was their foster father and as rich and nice seeming as he presented to the outside world, he was anything but. Jou had been placed in foster care when his father was deemed unfit to be a father due to his drinking and abuse to his son. Anzu's parents were currently serving jail time and she had bounced from family member to family member until being places in foster care. Unlike the other two, Yami's parents had been law abiding and were wonderful with him; sadly, they had both died in a horrible car accident, thus his placement in foster care.

The three of them met in a house for foster kids that were waiting to be placed with someone. They had become friends who comforted and cared deeply for each other. So when Pegasus had went to foster home for some charity event and stumbled upon the three, he ended up becoming their guardian and taking them with him by the end of the day. At first, the three believed with all of their hearts that their life was going to change for the better. Looking back now, they couldn't believe they were so foolish. Pegasus was mean and demanding, he didn't treat them as his own children, he treated them like servants. They didn't live in the mansion with him and his two 'sons', (Twin brother's from Egypt that he ended up adopting because they were to inherit a lot of money from their deceased parents.) they stayed at a guest house he never used. Never the less, they were glad that soon they were going to be old enough to go to college and leave Pegasus and the life he had given them behind for good.

"Oh look Yugi's house!" Anzu exclaimed in an attempt to lighten the mood they were in.

Jou smirked, "I can already taste the coffee cake…"

They had met Yugi and his grandfather through Pegasus, of all people, because Pegasus owned a local game shop that Yugi's grandfather was the manager of. Mr. Moto was the nicest person in the world and treated all of Yugi's friends as his own children so things like having a meal with him was a normal thing for the three. They were so comfortable with this family that when they got out of the car, they didn't even bother knocking, the three simply walked in.

"There you guys are!" Yugi called out to them, "I was getting worried there for a second."

Yugi was just as nice as his grandfather and he also had tri-coloured hair like Yami. Playfully, they would tell people at school that they were actually related to each other just to see their reaction. Yugi was shorter than Yami but Yami was also shorter than Anzu and everyone else. Yami liked to say that Yugi was fun sized to which Yugi would roll his eyes.

Anzu smiled sheepishly, "Sorry about that, but _somebody_ named Yami decided to sleep in."

"I'm not surprised by that actually," Said Mr. Moto, "Pegasus called two hours before the shop closed, claiming that the two boys had to stay to do inventory. I was seriously about to tell him off. Just because he's your foster father doesn't mean he can treat you all like slaves."

The two boys shrugged in response, they were used to Pegasus being like that. It was like slave labour, the three thought as they sat down at the table. Yugi wasn't the only one there sitting down. Their two other friends, Ryou and Ryuji were already there and waved at the three that had just entered.

Ryou was perhaps one of the nicest people anyone in the group had ever met. He had feathery white hair and green eyes. He had come from England with his father. His father was normally gone on trips but had gotten apartment anyway for Ryou could have a place to stay and so that his father also had a place to stay in between trips.

Ryuji Otogi was originally someone that Jou hated with a passion as the boy came off as stuck up when they initially met him. He proved himself as a nice guy and had been their friend ever since, according to all of the guys, Ryuji had a crush on Anzu and vice-versa but neither confirmed it. Ryuji had black hair, bright green eyes and normally wore an earring with a dice on it.

Yami sat down and looked over at Ryou, "Not to be nosy or anything but how did you get here? As I recall you don't have a car…"

"I picked him up," Answered Ryuji before Ryou could respond.

The white haired boy smiled and nodded, "He was going to pick me up anyway so we figured we would come here before heading to school."

"That makes sense," Anzu said as she sipped her hot chocolate.

The coffee cake was so great, all of the teens complimented Mr. Moto on his cooking skills while Ryou and Anzu were begging the man for the recipe for it. While all of this was going on, Yami's cell phone began to buzz in his pocket. He felt a smile grace his face as he pulled it out and found a text message.

_**{Good Moring. You aren't too tired from work last night are you?}**_

The teen bit his lip as he thought of a way to reply to the person and ended up writing, **'**_**Well, I was very tired but after the coffee cake and hot chocolate I think I'm good. How about you?**_**'**

Yami looked up to see his friends staring at him. His smile faded and was replaced with a serious look and one of his eyebrows was raised. He braced himself for what they were going to say, they mostly said the same thing every single day so it was more annoying than worry some.

Ryuji smirked, "So what does your boyfriend say?"

"First of all, he's not my boyfriend, and he only said good morning," Yami replied.

Jou laughed, "Oh I'm sure that's all he said. Maybe he's sending pictures of himself."

"I'm sure Yami's boyfriend isn't sending pictures of himself," Anzu said as she rolled her eyes.

Yugi leaned closer, "Unless you've looked at his messages, you don't know that one for sure."

"Leave Yami alone will you? Anyway, we have to go to school or we will be late," Ryou interrupted.

So the group left it at that as they got up and thanked Yugi's grandpa for the breakfast. As it turned out, all of them magically seemed to fit in Ryuji's car. But Jou decided he was going to drive the other car because he and Yami were going straight to the shop after work and take Yugi with them. While on their way to school, Yami looked out the window (again, he called shotgun) and wondered about things.

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"Can you relax Mokuba? It's only school, it's not like I'm taking you Disney World," The brunette said then shook his head at his own joke.

The other boy pouted, "It's not like you would take me there if you have Kaiba Land...can't I be excited about learning Seto? You say you value education…"

"Not if you are bouncing up and down the seat like that," Seto replied, "Besides, I'm trying to read and your moving about is messing with my concentration."

Mokuba pouted again, "Fine…"

The young boy slouched in his seat keeping that pout on his face. Deciding to break his usual stoic and withdrawn attitude, Seto wrapped his arm around his little brother's shoulders in an act of comfort. It was rather obvious that the boy wanted to stay mad at his older brother for the duration of the ride. Unfortunately for him, his brother had other plans and it worked just liked it worked when they were smaller. After all that they had been through, the only reason they survived it was because they were together. From losing their parents, the orphanage and even Gozaboro Kaiba, it was them against the world. Even now that Seto was now running KaibaCorp, it would still be just the two of them and neither of them wanted it any other way.

The car was slowing to a stop and Seto knew that it was Mokuba's stop. He always ordered the driver to drop his brother off first before dropping him off. Mostly because Seto wanted to see his brother off properly and also make sure his little brother didn't dare think about playing hooky.

"I'll see you after school, alright?" He said to the smaller boy.

Mokuba nodded as he practically jumped out of the car, "Okay brother! I'll see you then. Good luck on your test today. Not that you need luck, you are the smartest person I know!"

Seeing his little brother smile like that, melted his heart ever so slightly. Apart of him hated the fact that the boy had him wrapped around his little finger. Then again, now that he felt a smile of his own threaten to tug at his own cheeks, perhaps he didn't hate it as much as he wanted to/thought he did. Once his brother heated toward his school, the car moved again but this time it was going to be his stop. The brunette was going to work on some papers when his phone began to buzz signaling he received a text message. Expecting the message, he checked his phone and almost wanted to laugh.

**[**_**Well, I was very tired but after the coffee cake and hot chocolate I think I'm good. How about you?**_**]**

He had met his texting friend on a blog for Duel Monsters. Seto was surprised that the other male knew so much about the game. He even dared to think the other knew almost or just about as much as he did, not that he would ever say that out loud. What he would pay to meet the guy just so he could challenge him to a duel. But neither of them were that trustworthy, though they did exchange numbers but he was sure his 'friend' knew it was his number. For the blog, his user name was **BlueEyes1025** to pay homage to his favorite card called 'The Blue Eyes White Dragon' and for the fact that his eyes were blue. The username his texting partner had used was **Dark_Magician318** because his favorite card was and still is 'The Dark Magician'. So, other than that user name, he had no idea what the guys real name was.

'_**Only you would have something that sweet in the morning. If my little brother dared to do that, I would get after him**_**,'** He replied back before the car stopped again.

He got out of the car, reminding the driver to pickup Mokuba first unless told otherwise and then walked toward the building. He tried to pretend that people were staring at him, but for some reason, everywhere he went someone was staring at him. It was bothersome, to be honest but unless he could have some spray to keep people away, he had to put up with it. Ignoring everyone else, he headed to first class of the day and sat down at his desk. Once again, he was just about to work on something when his phone buzzed.

**[**_**Your poor brother. Unlike you, not all of us can solely live on coffee. Most us, including your brother I bet, are mere mortals who need some sort of sugar to get us past the morning.**_**]**

'_**Oh that's rich coming from the guy who so claims that if he don't have something sweet, he goes though withdrawals,**_**'** He wrote back.

Seto never had that many people to talk to mostly because he wasn't that social and had never been that way. But he really did like the fact that he had someone to talk to even if they were only going back and fourth most of the time. It was entertaining to argue with the other male, it gave him something to do and the replies he would get back would simply get funnier and funnier. The other was so quick to anger, he was too but he wasn't ever going to admit that _ever_. Just the thought of that made him shiver with dislike.

The bell rang sooner than he expected and soon people began filling the halls and entering their classrooms. Seto rolled his eyes as a group of people walked into his class room. The ones that seemed to stick out the most was the boy with white hair and the two tri-colour haired boys. He always wondered if their hair was actually that colour but he never bothered to ask, he really didn't care. For some reason, their seats had been assigned by grade score. The students with the lower grades had to sit in the front which meant that the students with the higher grades sat in the back. Seto's grade was one of the highest in the class so his seat was to the way back.

Yami and Ryou took their seats in the way back of the class. Ryou was lucky enough to take the window seat which meant that Yami sat next to Seto Kaiba. It was always awkward for a few moments but today, Ryou was rather talkative. So that awkward feeling was slowly going away.

"It's kind of sad that Jou has to sit in the way front," Ryou said with a sigh.

Yami snorted, "I'm sure if you told him that he would agree with you. But have you noticed that Anzu sit's in one row and right next to her is Ryuji and right behind her is Yugi?"

"Actually, I had never noticed that until right now…" Ryou laughed lightly.

The conversation went on like that and Seto would normally listen in more but his phone buzzed in his hand. Trying not to seem eager, he waited a few minutes before staring at his phone to read the message he got.

**[**_**Whatever, you go through them too but unlike you having to carry your own flask of coffee, I can simply go to a vending machine and get something. Anyway, I'll talk to you in between classes. The guy that sits next to me would get me in trouble if he saw me texting you. Can someone say the world's biggest ass?**_**]**

'_**At least I don't have to pay to get my fix. Yeah the guy that sits next to me in class would do the same thing. He's a teacher's pet.,**_**'** Seto wrote back.

The moment Seto had pressed send, the teacher walked in and soon class was in full swing. The test his brother had spoken about was in his first class. It was an easy test and Seto was sure that he was going to beat Yami for the higher grade. Why or when they agreed to compete for the highest grade in class was unknown to him but they did. Seto enjoyed the competition; it kept him on his toes and wanting to beat the other in any way possible.

Once the test was over, Seto's mind couldn't help but wander to subjects that he seldom liked to think about. One of those things was his personal life. Aside from work and Mokuba, he didn't have a social life. He didn't have people to hang out with nor did he have someone special. He found it ironic that with all of the money he had and all of the power that had come with it, there were things that were missing in his life. He supposed that the old cliché that money couldn't buy you happiness could ring true at the moment, not that he agreed with it. He was happy with his life and his money. He made sure his brother had everything he could ever need and then some. That used to be enough but lately he had feeling something missing and he couldn't place what exactly what that was. He shook his head, he needed to stop thinking about this and think about other things...like the look on Yami's face when the teacher announced that Seto got the highest score in the class.

That works.

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(AN: This part happens BEFORE the prologue takes place!)

_The sun had yet to rise but the Queen of Domino was awake with worry. She and her husband had an argument with their son, Seth. They had wanted him to get married but he claimed he wasn't ready for such a big step. She couldn't blame him for feeling that way, marriage was always so tricky and it wasn't getting any easier. Now the children of her son's generation wanted to fall in love and things of that nature. When Seth had mentioned this word to his parents, the Queen was confused. When did love become so important? When she was younger and had just gotten married to her husband, she might not have been too fond of him at first but now, she couldn't imagine her life without him. She tried to explain, calmly, that love might not be there at first and that it does grow slowly but he didn't want to hear any of that and had stormed out of the room. _

_As the lovely woman wandered about her castle, she couldn't help but want to speak to her only child. Perhaps if she were to explain things to him, it might get his head out of the clouds or something. She felt a frown on her lips as she thought about waking up her son but it was only inevitable. The sun was going to rise and soon he was going to be woken up anyway. Of course, she wasn't prepared for what she was going to see. When she entered the room, everything at a glance looked perfect, perhaps, it was too perfect. For a moment she was sure that Seth was on the bed but she knew for a fact that no one could be so still in their sleep. So she walked closer to the bed and that was when she saw it. He used a pillow and escaped though the window. Her eyes widened greatly as she ran from the room to wake up her husband. _

"_My King! My King!" She practically yelled._

_The king looked rather annoyed, "There has to be a great reason you have woken me up dearest."_

"_Seth's missing! He left sometime in the night I bet!" She said as she sat down on the bed, "He's gone…"_

_The man made a face, "Then I will call the guards to search for him. I'm sure he hasn't gotten that far yet."_

_Elsewhere, unknowing that the prince had ran off sometime during the night, a young man had woken up and began getting ready for his task of the day. The property he lived in was vast and it had many things on it, a stable for the horses and various fruit trees. The one he had his eyes on was the apple trees. It didn't matter what kind of apples he had gotten. As long as he brought back a few bushels of it, needless to say, this young man had a few baskets with him. He ran a hand through his tri-coloured hair as he looked about the land and let himself soak in the sun. His skin was tanned a lovely bronze colour for being in the sun so long but he never complained. His friend Mana always claimed it made him look 'exotic', whatever she meant by that. _

_Once upon a time, his parents had once owned this land, if he tried hard enough, he could remember his father. The man seemed to always have a bright smile on his face and his mother was such a beautiful woman. Thinking about it now, the two did make a handsome couple. They had even named him Atem, in honour of their shared Egyptian heritage. Unfortunately, his father had taken ill by a plague that had been going around at that time. The man fell to his untimely death thus leaving his wife and son behind. Without trying, he could remember his mother wearing black and her beautiful face looking so sad. Then it seemed like magic, she had began feeling better, she had met someone with two boys around her son's age. Soon his mother married this man, who name was Dartz. His son's had the strangest names and looks, Siegfried and Leonhart (Who preferred to be called Leon.) Of course, with Atem's crazy hair, there wasn't much he could say about that part but still…they were strange yet polite. Leon and he managed to become friends of sorts, the same couldn't have been said about he and Siegfried. Yet, the pink haired kid was still rather nice._

_Then, right as it seemed that everything was going to be alright, his mother passed away as well. It seemed right after the funeral, things began to change. Dartz and Siegfried weren't as great as they seemed to be. With his mother gone, they were free to do as they pleased, so they made him one of their servants in order for him to 'earn his keep'. That was when he became friends with Mana and Mahado, they had been servants all of their lives and had been more than happy to take him under their wing. For that he was grateful to them and always would be for the rest of his life. _

_Now, he was just about done with the apples when he saw something. A man in dark clothing on a horse that was running for its life it seemed. It wasn't the fact that the man was on the property and wearing dark clothing that made Atem lift an eyebrow. It was the horse, he knew that horse, that was his mother's favourite horse and like hell he was going to let some guy take it from him. The only thing he had in his hand was the apple, feeling perhaps reckless, he flung them at the man in an attempt to stop the thief until one hit the target and the man fell off the horse._

_Seth might not have thought this plan to run away through but he was sure, that being knocked off the horse he was borrowing wasn't one of them. As far as he knew, the nobleman who owned this property had given him permission to take a horse as he pleased. He looked to see what the hell knocked him off of the beast and noticed it was…an apple. An apple? If this had happened to anyone else, he would have laughed at them. He got up and dusted himself off, making sure the person that dared to do that to him was going to pay dearly for that…He looked across the field and noticed a young man with strange hair and with baskets of apples. Naturally, he assumed it was that guy. Walking with a long stride he noticed that once the other male got a good look at him he immediately dropped to the ground. Well, at least he knew who he was about to speak to. _

_Of all the people he had to hit with an apple, it would be the prince? Wonderful, now he was going to get beheaded due to an apple. Sighing, he his eyes and face downcast at the Prince's feet, being a servant he wasn't supposed to look the man in the eye. _

_Seth crossed his arms and looked down at the groveling person before him, "One would have to wonder why you would dare hit me with an apple…"_

"_Your highness, my deepest apologies…I-I thought you were a thief trying to steal the horse. If I had only known or realized it was you, I wouldn't have done that," Atem answered as clearly as he could. _

_Before Seth could reply, he noticed his father's guards in the distance. Soon they would be upon them and he didn't want to be here when they did that. Sighing to himself he made a choice that was going to change everything from that moment onward. _

"_You are rather lucky. But since I'm sparing you, you better not tell those guards from the palace that you have seen me," Seth said as he threw a small bag of gold coins at the other, "For your silence…"_

_With that the prince walked off into the woods nearby while he took a bite of the apple that was still in his hands. He didn't notice the crimson eyes that seemed to have widened in shock at the amount of gold coins in the bag. He also didn't see the other count it over and over again just to make sure. Atem smiled widely, he had the right amount! Instantly he hid the bag in one of his pockets, gathered the baskets and ran home. Mana had to hear about this._

* * *

**So what did you think? LET ME KNOW!**

**I noticed that on the traffic graph for this fic, there were a lot of people that at least read the prologue. I do encourage you all to review. It makes me so happy and it encourages me to keep up the story. But I understand that sometimes, you look at a fic, read it and like it but simply don't review until later on. I've done that a few times. **

**I do have chapter two in the works and I'm almost done with it. If you want to see it earlier than I plan to have it posted. I need more than two people review this chapter. Let's go with…hmm, five. If five people review this chapter, then I will post chapter two earlier than planned next week.**

**Anyway, I hope that all of you liked this chappy!**

**Reviews = Love**

**With Love, **

**SanguisRubeus**


	3. It Turned Into A Hope

**Yo!**

**So here is the newest chapter! The plot is slowly moving ever so slowly but it's still moving. Alright, just to clarify, this fic might be based off two movies but I'm taking some freedoms here and changing things or altering moments. So if you are like: "I don't remember this happening the movie" That's why. **

**I also want to give a shout out to my faithful reviewer **_itsallguchicauseyolo_** you are just epic with the following/favouring/reviewing! Please keep reviewing my fic! It makes me feel great. I also want to give another shout out to **_LoveAllie_ **who favourited this story. I hope to hear more from you in the future. The rest of you, please read and have fun!**

**On with the fic~!**

* * *

Chapter Two: It Turned Into A Hope

_By the time Atem had reached the house, he knew exactly where to find Mana. She was going to be in the kitchen and judging by the time of day, Dartz and his two sons were up and probably having breakfast. Figuring, they weren't going to want to see him just yet, he entered the house through the kitchen's back door. Mana was busy trying to make the eggs the way her master liked them that she didn't notice her dear friend walk in the door and creep up behind her. Lucky for her, he waited until she plated the food before he pulled her in an embrace and scared her._

"_Atem!" She squealed in shock._

_He smiled at her, "You will never guess what I have with me~!"_

"_Unless it's not the apples I asked you to bring, I don't care," Mana scoffed._

_Still with the bright smile, he pulled out the bag of gold coins and emptied it on a counter that was secluded from the others. Not that he didn't care if the other servants saw it or not, he trusted all of them, he simply wanted to share this with Mana first as he knew his best friend was going to appreciate it more than anyone else. Atem's smile got wider as the girl looked at the coins and gasped lightly. That was more than enough..._

"_Where did you get this?" She asked in a quiet whisper._

_He replied, "It was given to me, by a merciful stranger. But it's enough! If I sneak over to court today, I can get him out. Mana, we can get Mahado back."_

_Dartz had been squandering the family fortune and now owed people here and there. So in order for him to pay someone off, the man decided to sell one of his servants. Mana, Atem and Mahado were sure that he was going to try to separate them three and instead of going for the obvious choice, Atem, he decided to sell of Mahado. Mana was devastated at the loss, still hadn't recovered from losing him and seeing her like that made Atem wish that Dartz had gotten rid of him instead. But now all of that was going to change. They had the money to free their other friend and bring him home thanks to the gold coins they now had. For the first time since all of this happened, the girl next to him smiled brighter than any ray of the sun in recent days. Then, as suddenly as the smile was on her face, she turned to her friend and sized him up. _

"_If you are going to court, then you are going to have to look the part of some lord. If not, they are going to assume you stole the money," She said then after thinking more she blinked, "Oh I know what'll fit! We just need to alter it but…"_

_She looked over at the trays of food she had prepared only to see one of the older servants taking them with her. The older woman smiled at her and winked at them. Taking that as sign for them to sneak off and know that someone was going to watch their backs, they took off. Knowing where she was going, Mana practically dragged the male to the basement of the mansion. Not many people, Dartz included, had no idea this place existed. The former Mistress had placed all of her first husband's things in there when he had passed on. _

_Once they entered the basement, the girl ran to a trunk and began pulling things out of it until she reached a box and pulled it out to reveal some nice looking clothing. Instantly knowing what she was going to do with those clothes, Atem shook his head while he headed for the door. He didn't make it too far as she managed to grab his wrist and pull him close to her. _

_He kept shaking his head, "I am not wearing my father's clothes!"_

"_Oh come on! Do you want to free Mahado or not?! Besides, it will look so great on you and they need to be worn, only if it's one day…" She replied as she looked at him with wide eyes._

_He couldn't resist that look, "Fine but this better work…"_

* * *

It was a shock to everyone in school when the writing teacher was no longer working there. For those who liked her, it was a terrible loss for the school and the student body and she was going to be missed. For everyone else, it was a blessing in disguise. None of the students in her classes were fond of her, she had a tendency to pick on a certain student for their entire school life. The woman had the unfortune to pick on Seto Kaiba and when you mess with the young man, you find yourself out of a job fast. Of course, no one knew that Seto was responsible for that happening and that was just how he wanted it. All that was left was for people to wonder just who was going to take over the writing classes. So far there was a substitute and that man didn't know much but one day, the man was gone and in his place was a beautiful blonde woman.

"Hello students! I'm your new teacher Mai Kujaku but if you call me Ms. Kujaku, I start looking for my mother. So please, call me Mai," She said as she surveyed her class.

Of all the possible teachers, someone young and pretty as Mai wasn't expected. Jou was glad that he sat up front so he could look at her. He smiled sheepishly and sighed contently as she walked around the aisles. Yami and Ryou, who could see Jou's lovesick face, snickered as quietly as humanly possible. They didn't want to get in trouble with the new teacher but they also wanted to enjoy the fact that the blonde male was simply taken with the woman. Seto noticed the two laughing but didn't seem to care. He checked his phone, he had sent his 'friend' a message but he had yet to hear anything back. Not that he was surprised, the other seldom sent him a text during classes, which normally was a miracle for him. He hated to be bothered while he was in school.

"To celebrate me being your teacher, I am going to partner you all up and you are going to write me either a short story, poem or haiku to be turned in at the end of the class," Mai explained before she began putting people together.

By the end of her fun, Anzu was with Ryuji. Ryou and Yugi were partners while Jou was working with some girl named Miho. Yami and Seto ended up being partnered up mostly because Mai wanted to see what the two best students in this class could do together. Neither of them were too enthusiastic about it but what could they do about it? If the teacher wanted to see the best they both count offer, then why would they deny her that privilege? The only issue they had was that they were going to have to work together.

Seto sighed, "I'll do the writing if you come up with what we should do."

"Or, we could both write it and come up with what we should write. It's an option that I think works for the both of us. Not that you have to listen to me but it could just work," Yami replied sarcastically.

The brunette rolled his eyes, "Fine. What do you think then? I was thinking a poem. It's fast and then we don't have to deal with each other once it's done."

"As frightening as it is, I seem to find myself agreeing with you. We'll do a poem," He said.

After a bit more of back and forth, they had decided to have one person write a line and then the other add to it and so on. Then came the next argument: who was going to start them off? Seto, claiming he had the knowledge of poems, wanted to begin first while Yami, said he was more creative needed to start first. After a coin flip, Yami had won so after thinking about it for a moment, wrote something down and handed it to Seto.

'_The red strings of fate are surrounding me'_

Seto knew that Yami was making this a challenge on purpose. The line he had was going to put the poem in any direction. It could be a love poem, making the allusion to the red string that binds a person to another. It would be the obvious way to look at it but Seto wasn't a hopeless romantic. He never believed in things like true love or any of that fairy tale bullshit he would read to Mokuba at night. He was sure that Yami was a realist like that but now he was wondering. He wrote something back and gave the paper back.

'_Are binding me tightly then shoving me into my prison'_

Of all the things the young man could have written, this one struck a chord with the crimson eyed teen. Naturally he began to wonder what would have inspired the other into writing that. He didn't know Gozaburo Kaiba and he probably never would. But what he did know was that, thanks to Pegasus' so called love, he was in a prison of his own. He bit his lip for a moment as he came up with the next line.

'_I watch as a passenger as they run my life'_

What Yami replied with was rather intriguing. The brunette also had known that feeling thanks to his adoptive father. It brought back some dark memories that he had tried to suppress but then he shook his head, this wasn't a time to think about that. He had already fought those demons and he wasn't about to fight them again. Sighing, he thought of the new line and wrote it down.

'_They strip me bare and force me to see illusions'_

When did a damn poem become so therapeutic? Yami was tempted to write that down but he knew that Seto would have killed him for messing with the flow, also he didn't want to mess with the flow. He liked how this was going, as dark as it was, it did have a sort of charm to it. He wasn't a romantic and he sure as hell wasn't waiting for some prince charming to come and rescue him from his sad life. He knew that if he wanted to leave he was going to have to do it on his own.

'_The things I did for them'_

Now things were going somewhere, Seto thought as he looked at the new line. This was beginning to feel like a game to him. It was as if they were both trying to outdo each other with each line. He frowned a bit and remembered the things that were done to him when he was smaller by Gozaburo. Of course, the teen had risen to the challenge but he was also glad that the bastard was dead. He pursed his lips for a brief moment, glancing at the other with an eyebrow lifted up as he moved his pen across the paper.

'_Was it out of love, kindness or attention?'_

That was a good question, Yami thought sarcastically. He wanted to please Pegasus at first but now he didn't know why. Was it because he wanted attention and thought that was the best way to get it? He blinked a bit, this was easily becoming the hardest poem he was going to have to write. He noticed that Seto was looking at him but he ignored the other. There was a few things he could do with this but he kind of wanted to end it already. It seemed as if this poem was making them both suffer for some odd reason.

'_I damn the red strings of fate and enter my mind'_

Of course, the blue eyed teen was glad that the poem was going to end with him. He knew exactly how to end it as well. He did want to pretend that he was putting an effort and gazed down at the paper acting as if he was deep in thought. He wanted to make some sort of suspense if only for his own entertainment of watching the other wonder what he was going to write down. After a while, he wrote his bit down.

'_Completely and utterly alone'_

Both of them took their own individual time in looking it over before deeming it worthy to hand it over to Mai. As much as they bickered and thought about each line, they were the first ones to finish. Mai looked over their work and smiled. It wasn't a light or fluffy poem and she wasn't expecting them to come up with something like that as neither of them looked the part. They both had demons and it didn't take long to notice that. The only visible difference between them both was that Seto, due to his demons, chose to be a sort of lone wolf only depending on his own strength rather than on others. Yami was more open with things though he was guarded he still let himself be surrounded by people that seemed to make things bearable for him. It was simply fascinating to the blonde teacher and she wanted to see more.

After school was over, everyone went to the game shop. But Ryuji didn't stay long as he had a curfew and he still needed to take Ryou home. Once they were gone, Anzu remembered it was her turn to do the chores today and ran home to get those done before Pegasus noticed that the chores weren't done yet. In the end, it was only Yugi's grandfather and the three boys in the game shop. Since it was the shop's down time, they decided to clean the shop and talk about things. Then the subject of the Ms. Mai's class came up and that is when all of the fun happened.

"Ryou and I worked on a love poem," Yugi admitted, "The both of us are lovey-dovey so it worked out wonderfully. Mai told us that she liked our poem a lot. It felt kind of nice to have the teacher compliment us on it."

Jou and Yami couldn't help but smile at that. Everyone knew that there was something going on between Yugi and Ryou and they were the only ones who didn't see it. Even right now, Yugi was texting Ryou and neither boy was thinking anything of it. Yami and Jou couldn't help but think how adorable the entire situation was. They also had a bet on which one of them would top in their relationship. Jou thought that it would have to be Yugi while Yami thought that the both of them would switch positions. So far, neither of them had won yet but the bet was still on and the pot was getting bigger and bigger.

"So what did you both work on?" Yugi asked.

Jou shrugged, "Miho and I don't really have much in common so we decided to write a haiku about money. I know that Anzu and Ryuji wrote a short story. From what Ryuji told me, it was a pretty cool story. When we get the papers back, I want to read theirs… speaking of that, I want to read yours too, Yami. What the hell were you and Kaiba working on so intently?"

"I noticed that too. You both were very focused weren't you?" Yugi said as he sent the other a look.

The other teen didn't answer them for a moment. He wasn't too sure what to tell his two close friends. For a moment there, it felt as if there was some sort of connection he had with Seto in the moment. It was like a competition but it was also some mutual agreement that neither of them had ever voiced. It was the strangest thing he had ever gone though. As soon as they were done with the poem it was as if that connection was gone.

He replied, "It was a dark themed poem I guess. I don't think we can categorize it. We were both going off what the other wrote to come up with the next line. It was a challenge but an interesting one. I learned a bit about Kaiba, I guess."

"How is that so?" Yugi asked rather intruded that they actually worked together.

Jou scoffed, "Who the hell wants to learn more about that guy? But I will say, you disserve some sort of metal for putting up with him for that long and not killing him in the process. If I had to work with him, I would have shot myself or him, whichever came first really…"

Yugi laughed while Yami only shook his head. He was sure that Jou would have done that if given the opportunity. But, before he could come up with something to retort with, he received a text message from his texting buddy as he liked to call the other.

_**{So how is work going?}**_

'_**Actually, it's going rather well. My friend and my brother are gossiping with each other,'**_ He wrote back before the other two managed to see what he was writing.

Yami, Jou and Anzu liked to call each other brother or sister when they were talking to other people. As they were foster siblings and rather close, calling each other siblings only felt right. They were like their own little family after all.

_**{Gossiping? What are they emotional teenage girls? Do you even listen to them or does it go in one ear and out the other?}**_

'_**Something like the latter but it's not that I mind. It's funny when they gossip. It makes me knowledgeable about our school's hierarchy,'**_ Yami typed up in some sort of explanation.

_**{I never bothered to care about that crap. I go to school, do my work and then leave for home when it's all done. In the end, once graduation happens, it won't matter who was popular.}**_

'_**You do have a point there…Hopefully, I'll be in a University far away from my foster father,'**_ The crimson eyed teen responded.

For some reason, it had been so easy talking to **BlueEyes1025** about his predicament than it had been with anyone else, even if it had been in passing. He didn't elaborate how it was but he did mention little things here and there that would have made Pegasus sound strict rather than being mean or anything else. Frowning, he found himself listening to Jou and Yugi talking and found himself laughing at what they were saying. Perhaps, his texting friend was right about these two being 'emotional teenage girls.' Of course, he knew better than to even dare word it out loud. But as all things must come to an end, this one definitely ended with a bang.

It had all started when Pegasus' twin boys, Marik and Malik decided to show up and 'investigate.' Marik was the nice one who tended to get along great with his foster siblings. He even looked the more normal out of the two even if he was wearing some gold jewelry, at least his hair wasn't spiked up as crazy as Malik's was. Malik was just as mean as Pegasus and even then, everyone was convinced that he might just be worse than the man. It was that smile on Malik's face that simply told Yami and Jou that shit was about to hit the fan. That was when Pegasus came in with all of his glory. Why the man was here was something rather shocking. He seldom bothered showing up to the store, mostly trusting Mr. Moto with everything so even the older man was surprised to see him. For a moment, no one said a thing, even when Anzu came in looking rather sheepish.

"Well don't just stand there!" Pegasus said dramatically, "He might be here any minute. I want this place cleaned up and then you two boys out of sight so he doesn't see you!"

The only person who bothered to ask Pegasus what was going on was Mr. Moto. Other than that, the three boys, including Anzu were scrambling about trying to get the place as clean as possible. After a while, they soon got help by Marik who made sure that his father and brother didn't see him. He didn't want to get his three siblings in any sort of trouble for trying to help them but it wasn't fair to demand so much work yet not even bother to lift a finger. After a while, once Mr. Moto, Pegasus and Malik went into the office, they all got rather comfortable around each other to talk once again.

Jou broke the silence, "Alright Marik, what the hell is going on here? Who the hell is coming over that is so important for us to stay hidden for? Where the hell is he going to put us?"

"Well, one of Father's associates is going to visit the store to see if he wants to either buy it or something like that. I didn't catch that particular detail. As for everything else, I'm not sure. I'm sure he's not going to lock you in the office. I think he's going to need that room," Marik answered.

"I guess this mystery person has to be very important if we are cleaning this place from top to bottom," Yugi said as he finished dusting the place he was working on, "The question is who is that person. I mean, if the person wants to buy this place, wouldn't he want to change the staff? Or how does that work? Personally, I'm rather shocked to see Anzu here."

Anzu couldn't help but nod as well, "I was minding my own business, I had just finished the chores when Pegasus just grabbed me and told me to come with them. I do know was that he was on the phone when I had come in but I had no idea who it was. Personally, I still have no clue who that person was."

"I guess when this person enters the store; we are going to have to sneak back in to see just who that person is…" Yami said with a playful smirk.

No one had put it passed Yami to even think about saying that. All of them agreed that they wanted to know who this person was. It was rather interesting to think that someone that even made Pegasus nervous was going to be entering this store. Seeing the man so tense made them all want to meet this person. Hell that dude deserves some sort of trophy for intimidating the business savvy Pegasus.

* * *

"So there is no way to get out of this?" Mokuba asked with big eyes.

Seto, used to this sort of thing shook his head, "I'm sorry brother but my hands are tied. I couldn't back out of it this time. Even if I wanted to, I can't."

Mokuba crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, this was the second time that Seto had broken a promise this week. He didn't know just how the other was going to make it up to him but he was expecting the other to figure it out. It wasn't like Seto to break a promise to his little brother and the fact he did it twice in one week was even shocking the younger brother. What also annoyed him was the fact that Seto had even had the gall to bring him with him to whatever this thing was.

"Look, I know I promised that we were going to be spending this time together and I promise we will. I didn't think I was going to have to do this right now…" Seto began in hopes that his brother was going to understand and stop looking so angry with him.

The other boy rolled his eyes and replied, "Yeah, yeah…"

Sighing, the teen wished that his brother wasn't making this more difficult as he already did. He tried his best to come up with something that was going to cheer the other up but nothing sounded plausible. Shaking his head, he pulled out his phone. He still hadn't responded to **Dark_Magician318** so he figured that his only 'friend' would have some insight on situations like this. For a moment he kept staring at his phone, not wanting to send the dreaded text message he knew he was going to have to send anyway. For him, it was just hard having to swallow his pride and actually go along with this. Biting his lip momentarily while he composed the message in his mind before actually committing to write it down, it was a lot harder than he thought it was.

Finally he had written and sent, _**'Alright, what if I said that I kind of angered my little brother by breaking a promise to him not once but twice. How do I go about this?'**_

It was a good thing that he didn't have to wait as long as he thought was going to have to. In his opinion, it was still longer than normal but he remembered the other male was working tonight as he normally did during the week. So the wait wasn't that bad but it was what he had gotten back that he felt kind of frustrated.

_**[Well that depends. What did you promise him and what did you do to break that promise? Depending on what happened, depends on what I might say.]**_

Rolling his eyes, he replied, _**'I promised to spend time with him but, twice this week, I've had to cancel for work. I brought him with me this time but I know that he's not too happy with that either. I'm at a complete loss. What do I do?'**_

He was glad that he was stuck in traffic and he wasn't going to be any closer to his destination for a while. He needed to solve this issue with his brother for many reasons. One of those reasons was that he hated seeing his little brother upset with him. If it was anyone else, he wouldn't have given a shit but his little brother was more to him than any other person which meant that his happiness was something of importance. The other reason that he knew was horrible for him to think was that he didn't want his brother pouting the entire time of the meeting. Again, it was a horrible thing for him to think but with both of them representing the Kaiba name, they had to behave a certain way. Of course, he was more lenient with Mokuba than Gozaburo ever was with him but that little fact was neither here nor there at the moment. And when his phone finally received a message, he silently thanked whatever force caused his friend to reply faster than he did before.

_**[Oh. Well that is a difficult issue. Okay, how about you give him an incentive or something depending on what he wants. From what you've told me about your brother, he just wants to spend some quality time with you. So how about you give him that and let him pick your activity or something?]**_

Seto couldn't help but want to glare at his phone for a moment. That seemed simple, perhaps a little too simple. Apart of him felt like scoffing and tell the other to stop fooling around or something like that but something else told him that it was most likely the most reasonable thing he had ever heard all freaking day. But still, he was a little cynical about it for no reason than to simply be cynical. He never believed in anything wholeheartedly unless it had a 0% chance of failure and even then he was doubtful. So for a moment, he took some more time to think of what to respond with that didn't make him sound like a complete ass.

After some difficulty, he wrote, _**'How are you so sure that this incentive thing is going to work? Not that I doubt you but I've never had any experience with this sort of thing…'**_

_**[I know because when I was a kid, my parents used to use it on me. Plus, my sister and I use it on my brother. It works on him and that's because he's our age. Just trust me on this one will you?]**_

He sighed a bit, what did he have to lose? Looking up he noticed that they were arriving to their destination. It was now or never and Kaiba Seto never backed down from something he needed to do. He cleared his throat to get his brother's attention and also to get his thoughts in order. If there was any time to get this done, it was going to be now and rather quickly.

"Mokuba, if you can bear with me and act like the polite young man I know you are, as soon as this is over, we can spend time together for the rest of the evening however you want. Is that a deal?" He said as semi-professional manner.

After a few minutes Mokuba smiled brightly and replied, "Anyway I want? Okay then when this is over I want to have dinner with you at that restaurant I like and I want a desert. If you accept those terms, you have a deal."

Seto nodded in response and soon the brothers were out of the car. He managed to send a thank you to his friend but didn't seem to notice that as soon as his phone sent the message, a phone inside the building he was entering made a noise.

* * *

**So what did you think? PLEASE TELL ME!**

**Reviews=Love**

**I know there are people reading this but I do encourage all of you to review this! It means a lot when people review me. But the fact that the stats tell me that there are people reading this makes me feel alright but I would like to know what you think. **

**So I do have chapter three in the works and it's almost done. I didn't get the five reviewers like I wanted but if you want to see the update early next week, I encourage you to review and give me at least five reviews. Same like last time so no pressure. :D**

**Well I hope you liked this and there is more where this came from~**

**With Love,**

**SanguisRubeus**


	4. Then I Watch It Explode

**Hello guys~!**

**I'm back again this week with an update! I was rather excited about this chapter and I hope you are too. For some reason it just flowed rather fast and then it slowed sadly. If the end seems rather rushed, I'm sorry. I was trying to fix it but I couldn't think if anything else to write. It was a bit frustrating. But anyway, here it is! I hope you like it!**

**Once again I want to shout out to **_itsallguchicauseyolo_** for reviewing the last chapter. I do hope to hear from you for this chapter. You are just great! I also want to give a shout out to **_cadeharrison16_ **for now following/favouring this story. I hope to hear from you soon~!**

**Anyway, without further adieu, on with the fic!**

* * *

Chapter Three: Then I Watch It Explode

"Keep that thing down, will you?" Anzu quietly squawked at Yami, "If Pegasus hears your phone getting messages we are all going to be in trouble."

Yami sighed as he set his phone on vibrate, "I still don't see how Yugi can be out there while we have to be hiding…We work here just as much as he does."

"It's not Yugi's fault, it's just how Pegasus is. You know that he likes to hide us unless we are useful for him in some way," Jou said.

They were currently in one of the back rooms with the door opened up just a crack so they could see just who the hell it was that was coming over here. What shocked them the most was exactly who that person was.

"Seto fucking Kaiba?" Jou whispered in shock, "We have to hide like rats because of Seto fucking Kaiba?!"

Pegasus smiled broadly as the Kaiba brothers came into view. With his two sons next to him, making sure they looked perfect. He wasn't going to be talking to the young man about the shop with his sons looking like crap. Hence the reason that he hid the other three away, they were icky and sweaty from their hard labour. What would the head of KaibaCorp think if he has seen those three little ragamuffins? He suddered inwardly, he didn't want to even think about it, especially as the young man in question was coming close to him with his little brother in tow. Apart of him couldn't help but wonder why he had brought his little brother with him to a business meeting. Surely he could have found a sitter? Maybe he could offer one of his little children to watch the brat next time? That sounded like a great idea.

"Oooh Kaiba-boy!" Pegasus exclaimed as he outstretched his hand for the other to shake, "It is so great to see you after so long. I have to say you are looking rather great! Wait, don't tell me that this young man next to you is the illustrious Mokuba Kaiba that you speak nothing but praises about? You know I can see the resemblance. Have you met my sons Kaiba-boy? They go to your school! This is Malik and this, this is Marik. I've mentioned him before. "

Yugi excused himself the moment Pegasus began to speak in order to go into the same back room that his friends were hiding in. This particular storage room was soundproof so once he closed the door, he broke out laughing hard. The other's followed suit and also laughed as hard as they could, thanking the soundproof walls.

"Ooooh Kaiba-boy," Jou said in his best imitation of Pegasus which wasn't that far off, "Ya know? I kind of feel sorry for Kaiba-boy right now. Having to endure Pegasus calling him that all night? I would shoot myself if he went 'Oooh Katsuya-boy!' to me or something like that."

Yugi tried his hardest to catch his breath with all of the imitations that Jou was doing, "You should have been there to see Kaiba's face when Pegasus did that. I kind of expected him to turn around and leave or something. But I kind of feel bad for Marik, did you hear him trying to force him onto Kaiba?"

"He was mentioning something like that in the car. But judging by the look of Marik's face, he wasn't too enthusiastic about the entire plan," Anzu said as she finally caught her breath and took a few deep breaths for extra measure.

Yami reopened the door slightly so he could hear the rest of what was going on, "I didn't know that Kaiba had a little brother… He's rather innocent looking."

No one bothered to answer Yami as they thought he was in one of his moments again and kept making fun of Pegasus as quietly as they could. Meanwhile, their crimson eyed friend was busy keeping his eyes on that young boy and how he was so comfortable around his older brother in a way that no one else ever was. It was rather nice to see some sort of result of Kaiba's soft side. But he also noticed just how sneaky this young boy was as well. Kaiba was whisked away by Pegasus and Malik while Mr. Moto and Marik followed them all into the office. It seemed that Mokuba managed to not be noticed by them all as he looked about the room in extreme fascination of what the shop had to offer. Like all of the other children Yami had seen come in here, Mokuba also had those wide eyes as he wandered about touching everything he could get his hands on and he couldn't help but be reminded of when he was that small. As much as it was creepy that his eyes were on this young boy, he couldn't help keep them there.

Mokuba had been as nice and as sincere as he had promised to be but if he spent more than the necessary time with these people he was going to hurt himself. So when Seto was preoccupied, he snuck away. It wasn't like Pegasus wanted to talk to him, he wanted his Kaiba-boy only. The boy laughed lightly at how the man had greeted his brother. He knew better than to laugh out loud in front of those people and his brother but he was going to be mentioning it in the car. Although he didn't plan on pressing that option too much, he noticed his brother winced lightly in annoyance when Pegasus greeted him. Knowing his boundaries, he knew that if he mentioned it too much, his brother might just be annoyed for a few days and possibly won't let him have any desserts. The thought of that alone was more than enough to keep the young Kaiba on the straight and narrow.

For a moment, the young boy was rather enthralled at the how some of these heavy looking boxes full of games were so intricately stacked like that. Deciding to play a little adventurous, he decided that he was wanted to go into the middle of these shaped boxes to get the full effect of how it looked. He couldn't help but let out a surprised gasp. Whoever helped make this had to have been around his height or something close to that. There was no way someone as tall as his big brother could fit into something like this. The boy kept turning and turning simply fascinated. How could they make all of these boxes look like some sort of gazebo? Apart of him wanted to show this to Seto and ask him if they could make something like that at KaibaLand. Maybe it could be in the small children's section or maybe the teen based section, teens were more lovey-dovey and he could imagine girls dragging their boyfriends underneath it. Maybe they could even charge for them to take pictures underneath it or something. For sure his brother would like that idea if it involved it making some sort of money.

Perhaps he was too excited about the concept that he didn't notice what he was doing. He didn't realize he was backing up and then he crashed into one of the boxes. It was a light crash and he moved as soon as he had done it but the damage was done. The entire structure was going to fall and it seemed that everything was moving so slowly. His heart was pounding out of his chest and he closed his eyes, took a deep breath then yelled for his brother and braced for impact. He fell to the ground but…the boxes weren't hitting him. Why weren't they hitting him? Why did it sound like other people were in the room and yelling some other name? Who was Yami?

When Seto noticed that his brother was missing from the office, it was too late to leave the room and bring him in there. He figured his brother wanted to give him some sort of space, smart kid, he couldn't help but thinking. It was always so surprising that his brother knew so much about him but he was grateful. He never did like to close any deals in front of his brother. It always made things feel so awkward. Looking around, he noticed he wasn't the only one feeling that awkwardness. He could see the General Manager looking a little out of place as well as Marik. He didn't have Marik in the same class, and he was thankful he didn't have Malik for class, but he did notice Marik in school. He seemed like a nice person but there was something about him that simply seemed rather ordinary. He wasn't too crazy about ordinary and if Pegasus was trying to set him up, he would have to choose the next person wisely. If he thought that Malik was his type then the older man definitely had some screws loose in his head.

"I have to admit, as nice as this shop is, I would have to wonder why it would be beneficial to me?" Seto asked as he raised an eyebrow.

It was a fair question but the other's hesitation was more than enough reason for him to have some sort of doubt forming into his mind. It was a question he asked anyone who wanted him to buy something from them. That was how he weeded out one place from another but before he had a chance to even think about something else smart to say, he heard a crashing noise and then…

"SETO!"

That was more than enough for him to get out of the chair and out the door with everyone else trailing behind him at a slower pace. He hadn't noticed all of those boxes before and now he was looking around to see what else he might have missed for a moment but shaking his head and walking toward the boxes he called out to his brother and got a muffled reply. He had heard something else and when he looked up, he saw three other people. He had seen Yugi earlier but he was sure he missed Anzu and Jou. He would have recognized them the instant he saw them as they were in the same class as he was. But then if they were here…

"Are you alright?" asked a weak voice.

That was when everyone looked down. Now that the dust finally settled, they noticed Yami had protected Mokuba from the falling boxes. Knowing that those boxes were heavy, the teen rushed to help the boy, not wanting him to get hurt. The boy looked rather shocked that someone he didn't know had saved him but Yami simply smiled brightly as he tried to catch his breath.

Mokuba nodded, "I'm fine. The question is are you going to be alright? The boxes looked heavy."

"Oh they were but no worries, I'm going to be fine!" Yami smiled as he stood up and helped the boy get up, "See? I'm perfectly fine."

Of course Yami was lying through his teeth but you know what? He didn't want to worry some kid into thinking that he was going to die or something. He knew he wasn't so there wasn't going to be any fuss now was there. Once the room came back into vision the two noticed everyone else around them and that was when it actually hit Yami that he really saved Kaiba Seto's little brother. He tried not to focus on everyone staring at him or the fact he was going to wake up with bruises tomorrow. He wanted to be sure that young Kaiba Mokuba was going to be alright. At this moment, that was all that seemed to matter.

Seto found his voice once Mokuba was in his arms, "Well then Pegasus. This store might be a little small, too small for my liking but these employees seem to be the only thing that is keeping my interest in it. I'll be in touch with my offer by the end of the month. Although, unless Yami's a ninja, I don't understand how he managed to keep my brother from getting hurt if I didn't see him or the other two earlier…can you care to explain this?"

"We were in the back doing inventory," Anzu remarked before Pegasus could come up with something, "That's why you didn't see us earlier."

Jou nodded, "We finished faster than expected because Yugi came in to help us. We were about to leave when we heard a noise. Yami went to go check and…well you can see the rest."

"I figured that much but that still doesn't explain why you three are here and doing inventory…unless you guys work here," Seto remarked, "Personally I don't see why anyone would hire you, Mutt."

Out of all the times that Pegasus decided to open his mouth, he was lucky to have found one of the opportune moments to speak up. Jou looked as if he was about to murder Seto and Seto looked as if he was getting ready to start something. It might have been his saving grace. Might. Still, no one had expected the man to speak up or anything of the sort. So they were shocked more because of this than they were over anything else.

"Actually, Kaiba-boy, these three are my foster children," Pegasus said gracefully, "You did know I had three foster children right? Oh my dear Yami-boy are you alright? You are such a brave young man! I'm so proud of you son."

Yami knew that he was now in the position to play happy family with his foster father but a part of him didn't want to play happy family. His back was hurting and standing up was more of a bitch than he expected but, for the sake of young Mokuba, he didn't want to make a scene by being honest. It wasn't like he was going to see the young child ever again after this moment. So why was he panicking? He played pretend before, it's not going to hurt right now was it?

Looking up at his foster father, Yami smiled sheepishly, "I'm fine _Father_. Really, it's the young boy you should be concerned with. I was only doing the right thing, as you always encouraged. Kaiba, we like to help our dear Father out with the store so we normally come here but today we were running late. But the rest is as Jou and Anzu said, we were doing inventory as we always do."

Seto might not have known how art of acting worked but he was sure that Pegasus was putting on an act of some sort. He didn't doubt that the three where his foster kids but why weren't they paraded around or at least told not to be late? Perhaps this happy foster family thing was fake but he didn't expect Yami to go along with it and be more convincing than Pegasus. He could have pointed out a few things that were off with this but he decided to not push it and pretend to be fooled for right now. It might prove to be useful later on.

"Well that was something I wasn't expecting. Well, this was certainly an interesting evening," Seto said as he kept Mokuba close, "Like I said before Pegasus, I will be in touch with you with a proposal at the end of the month. Now come on Mokuba, this has been more than enough excitement for one day."

Then as fast as Seto entered the building, he left it. As soon as the teen was out of the hearing and seeing range, everyone let out a deep breath. Not only did they fool Kaiba, but they were all safe from Pegasus' wrath. He had gotten what he had wanted and managed to get a proposal. Deciding that Yami needed to go see a doctor, he gave Mr. Moto his credit card and sent the old man and the young boy on their merry way and told them to call him with the results of the check up.

The next morning, Anzu and Jou were shocked that Yami had gotten up and went to school with them. Even their friends were shocked but Yami reassured them that his back was fine and the medicine for the pain was working miracles. He didn't tell them that the doctor was shocked that he didn't have more than minor injury that wouldn't take any sort of operation. Just hearing those words made everything that he went through so much easier to deal with. With all of their thoughts put aside, the group of teens made it to their classroom. No one was surprised that Seto was there, he was always there early but he was shocked to see Yami there for some reason. With this day only getting stranger and stranger, Seto got out of his desk and made his way toward the crimson eyed teens' desk. Ryou simply stared at the two staring at each other for a moment, quite unsure what the hell to say.

"Good Morning Kaiba," Yami said calmly, "How's Mokuba doing?"

Seto replied simply, "He's fine, thanks to you. He had no injuries other than shock but he's fine. I'm surprised that the doctors decided to let you come to school…and your beloved foster father for that matter."

"My real parents always encouraged education and nothing is going to change that. Besides, the doctor said I was going to recover quite nicely by the end of the week and the pain medication helps wonderfully," The other said with a joke at the end.

Seto rolled his eyes at the last comment, "Only you would mention the medicine…."

"Not to sound rude or anything…but is there a reason that we are talking? We normally don't make any sort of conversation. Not even when we worked on that poem together," Yami said with a lift of one of his eyebrows.

The brunette sighed for a moment, "Mokuba thinks that it would be rude of me if I didn't somehow replay you back for helping him out. So my little brother wants me to invite you to have dinner with us on Friday…I'll give you until tomorrow to decide your answer."

Yet again, Kaiba Seto surprised everyone who heard that by showing some sort of courtesy but now this was going to be leaving Yami with an interesting decision to make. He wasn't sure if he should accept the invitation or not. A part of him wanted to yet another part of him didn't want for Pegasus to find out. Surely if that drama queen found out, then all hell was going to break lose. It was good thing he was going to have some time to think it over, he was going to need that time to mull things over. He looked over at Ryou for some sort of advice.

"You should go," Ryou whispered, "You might just have fun. Who knows? He might not be as bad as we think…"

* * *

_Atem walked as confidently as he could to court. So far, he hadn't gotten into any trouble as he was on his merry way to fetch Mahado back from being shipped off, even if he was at no fault of his own. It broke the young man's heart that his dear friend and father like figure was suffering so and there wasn't much that he could do about it…until now. He noted how people got out of his way hurriedly and as quickly as they could. Surely, they thought, this young nobleman was here to do something important. If not then he wouldn't have been walking so quickly, most nobles walked slowly or had horses pulling a carriage or simply rode a horse. The people thought it peculiar but they deducted that the young man just had to be from out of town. It was the only way their minds could have made some sense out of it. _

_While Atem was fussing over the coins and getting his clothing picked out by Mana, Seth had managed to save a painting from some gypsies and returned it to the artist. The artist was a lovely lady by the name of Kisara and she was an honoured guest at the palace. In some strange turn of fate, they were heading to court at the same time Atem was. _

"_A strapping young man as yourself is bound to have taken the heart of someone," Kisara spoke._

_Seth sighed, "If only it were that easy. I'm being forced to marry someone I've never met before. It's quite… quite annoying to be honest."_

"_You make it sound so complicated when the only problem is that you just haven't found your match yet," She said reassuringly._

_He turned to her and faced her with a lifted eyebrow, "How am I going to know just who that person is if I've never met them?"_

"_Trust me, that person will definitely appear when you least expect it," She replied to him._

_Seth didn't believe her and Kisara was sure that he didn't but they were distracted by the young man some ways away from them. He was dressed nicely but it was the hair that Kisara was enthralled with. She had never seen that many colours of hair on one person and with that sun kissed skin of his, she was tempted to draw him. The young man was arguing with a man who was in charge of taking debtors to a ship where they will work off their wages for the remainder of their lives. The man seemed to be getting frustrated with the young man and finally let his anger out at the other. That was when Seth decided to step in for some reason. _

"_You dare speak to a nobleman like that?" Asked Seth._

_The man lowered his head as he was on his horse, "Your Majesty! I'm simply doing my job but this-this young sir is making my job rather difficult."_

"_I'm only making it so because I have more than enough money to free my servant yet he refuses to comply with me," Atem argued back._

_Of all of the things he had ever heard in his life, Seth had never heard of a nobleman ever come down to court to free his servant from debt. This was a sensation and the young man was something of a sensation as he had never seen the man before. Feeling that this was going to be some sort of entertainment, he decided to gather more of an idea of why a nobleman was going this far for a servant. There was also the fact that he wanted to have a reason to hear the other speak more. There was something about that voice…it was familiar? That was strange, he would have remembered hearing the face which held the voice like that. He snapped back into his reality as both old and younger men were staring at the young prince as if looking for guidance. _

_Seth cleared his throat, "Tell me, why do you want that servant back when you can simply buy a new one? Surely if you had more gold than the price of the debt you could have gotten another one, a younger one."_

"_This servant has been in my family since I was a small boy. I am very loyal to my servants and they are loyal to me. If I can't bring one of their own back, then I lose their trust in me and if they cannot trust me then who can they trust? Certainly not anyone else in the world but themselves," Atem rationalized, "The money doesn't matter to me, I would pay more if I have to in order to get my servant back."_

_Kisara smirked from behind Seth and found herself liking the fire behind that boys eyes. He was so different from the other's she had seen throughout her lifetime. Of course, she wasn't interested in him for herself. He was much too young for her and she had a feeling about this young boy before her but she wasn't sure if she was right about it or not. She would just have to wait and see but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to say something. _

_She turned to the prince and said, "My prince, I do believe that the young man has a point and he's also portraying his compassion. Unlike others that could simply leave the servant here, he's choosing to get that servant back. If that's not admirable then I have no clue what is."_

_Atem tried his best not to smirk, he didn't know who that woman was but it was a good thing that she was here. The prince seemed to take her advice into some sort consideration but he couldn't help but get nervous. The prince was taking a milling years to respond and he knew that patience and being firm in your beliefs were going to the be the key that wins everything over in his favour. He knew that if the prince asked to pay more than what he had in his hand that he was going to be screwed big time but that was a chance that he was going to be willing to make. Biting his lip for a brief moment and looking over at Mahado, who was trying to play everything cool. The young man knew that he was going to be questioned about this stunt the moment he and Mana were in private with him but for now he could just sit back and relax while waiting for the prince to decide the answer._

"_Well then, Sir if you can release that servant in question-" Seth said before he was interrupted._

_The man on the horse exclaimed, "BUT YOUR MAJESTY!"_

"_What I say goes. The young nobleman is going to pay you what he has in his coin bag and you let that servant go or did I not make myself clear?" Seth asked in a commanding tone._

_Begrudgingly, the man ordered one of the other men that was with him to release Mahado while he was receiving the coins from Atem who by now was thanking any deity he knew for letting his dear friend be released. _

_Mahado walked up to the younger man and whispered, "Atem what are you doing here?"_

"_I'll explain later. Meet me at the bridge and we'll walk home okay?" He whispered before saying out loud, "Prepare the horses, we'll leave at once!"_

_Mahado nodded and walked off while smirking ever so lightly. Atem's parents would have been impressed with that performance, he sure as hell was but still, what the young one was doing was rather illegal so he was going to get a scolding as they were walking home but for right now, he was going to enjoy stretching his legs and basking in the sun and the letting himself relax just a bit._

_Meanwhile, Atem was walking another way, he was going to change out of these clothes and walk home in his usual wear so Dartz wouldn't get too suspicious of anything. If the man had any inclination about Atem having anything to do with Mahado being free, the plan would be ruined. Yet, fate had another plan for the tri-coloured young man at the moment. Before he managed to get far, he was followed by the prince. It was the strangest thing he had ever experienced so far and apart of him felt nervous about the man recognizing him. Seth, as it turned out was rather persistent and the young man didn't want the other to follow him home so he walked slower. The prince was about to give up when this strange noble walked at a decent pace. Now he was going to at least talk to the other, even if it was going to be for a brief moment. _

_Seth cleared his throat, "Will you speak? You spoke your heart out earlier so why be silent now?"_

"_To speak," Atem replied sarcastically, "Why are you even interested in speaking to me? You don't seem like the kind to be too keen for casual conversation. Unless you have an ulterior motive…"_

_The prince stopped in his tracks, "I don't have one of those either. I'm just wondering where you have been hiding…I've never seen you at court before. I would definitely have remembered someone with your spirit. It would have made court like less boring to be rather honest with you."_

_This was one of the reasons why Atem didn't want to speak to the prince, as grateful as he was for him to step in when he did, he didn't want to have to deepen his deceit. He tried to think of an answer as fast as he could without the other being suspicious of him. That was when he remembered something, more about himself that might just be his saving grace. He simply prayed that the other male wasn't going to notice this lie as it was the only lifeline he had at the moment. _

"_I'm not from this land. I'm visiting my cousins for a few days," Atem said confidently in order to make it believable, "I'm from Egypt."_

_Seth raised an eyebrow, "Is that so? Well, you do have an exotic look about you so I figured that much. No one in Domino looks like you that's for sure. Yet, I have to wonder, why don't you have an accent when you speak this language? One would expect someone from Egypt to have some sort of accent…"_

"_My mother grew up here and after she married and had me, she taught me her native language. She only spoke to me in this language so I grew up learning both languages roughly around the same time. My parents were both perfectionists so if I didn't speak either language perfectly, there was issues to be had," Atem explained, trying to make it sound convincible. _

_He wasn't really lying. He did know how to speak his parents native tongue and this one well because of his parents being perfectionists. All he needed to do was to convince the prince this but at the moment it had to be easier said than ever achieved. At least he was making the effort and looking confidently into the other's cobalt blue eyes. They were very nice eyes, he found himself thinking, he wished his eyes were as lovely as a clear sky. Seth on the other hand, was beginning to like the eyes of the 'Egyptian' before him, they were simply hypnotizing. As unbelievable as the story was, he knew just how perfectionist his father was/is._

_Seth shrugged, "I guess that's understandable. I have something similar to that in my father but to have two parents like that? I surely don't envy you at the moment. That must have been difficult to grow up with…anyway, I'm going to have a chess match at the court yard of the palace tomorrow if you are interested in going to see."_

_Atem wasn't expecting the invitation but he was going to take what he got. Of course, during that time, he was going to be helping out Mana and Mahado at the farmers market but he wasn't going to say that to the prince. It might encourage him to looking for him and that was something he wasn't interested in, as entertaining as it might be._

"_We'll see. I think I might have other plans for tomorrow but if I can I might make the effort to see you," He replied inclining his head out of respect for the other, "Thank you kindly for the invitation your majesty."_

_The other rolled his eyes gently, "I also respond to Seth, if you don't mind. May I ask for your name?"_

"_You can call me Akai," Atem replied nonchalantly, "Anyway, I must be off, but it was nice meeting you. Thank you for helping me out today…"_

_Akai was the name of a friend he had in his youth before his father had passed. He wasn't sure if the young man was around anymore but it was a risk he was willing to make. As he walked away, he was surprisingly alright with what happened. Secretly, he wanted more days like this and so did Seth._

* * *

**What were your thoughts on this chapter? TELL ME VIA REVIEW!**

**Once again, I see that people are reading this but they don't review. As alright with it as I am, I would love to know what you think about this story. But, I don't want to sound like I'm nagging you all as I feel like I am. I just like it when someone reviews and I get all happy, it's just great and helpful. **

**Anyway, I'm glad you are reading this wherever and whoever you are, now if you've read my other things and are waiting for updates, those are in the process of being updated. I just kind of lost my inspiration to do those or I'm not sure where to go with it anymore. I re-read one of my other fics and I am thinking of how to update it and where I want to go with it but I need time to sort it out. But I haven't forgotten about them they are still in my mind. I promise. Now with the holiday season now upon us, I might have to update less frequently. But not to worry! I will update and I will let you know if I have to delay the update. **

**Anyway, have a great day and I hope I made you smile.**

**With Love,**

**SanguisRubeus**


	5. Putting My Defenses Up

**Hello there!**

**I was just wondering how you all were doing today? I was kind of running late on this deadline as I saw Thor: The Dark World last night. Such a great movie you all need to watch it. Seriously. Anyway, I hope that this is to your liking. I kind of cut it a little shorter than I wanted to but I have a good reason for that and you will see it in the next chapter. **

**I want to thank **_itsallguchicauseyolo_ **for her epic review as always. I hope to hear from you on this chapter! I also want to thank **_quickwolf_ **and **_Enchanting Knights_** for favouring this fic. I hope to hear from you all soon. **

**Without further adieu, on with the fic~**

* * *

Chapter Four: Putting My Defenses Up

_Dartz stormed around his house and so far the search for Atem led nowhere. It wasn't that the man was in any need of his stepson, on the contrary he didn't need a thing, he simply hadn't seen the boy in a few hours and was concerned. No, he wasn't concerned for the boy's safety or anything of the sort, if that was what anyone was wondering. He knew that searching for Atem was always difficult as he knew exactly how to make himself scarce. It was a blessing in disguise most of the time, but today Dartz had the strangest of feelings that he didn't seem to shake off. Wondering to himself for a moment, he checked his dead wife's knitting room…no Atem. This was making Dartz panic ever so slightly with another sort of worry. As much as his oldest son chose to ignore this small fact, Atem was blossoming into a handsome young man. Of course, he knew this sort of thing was bound to happen from the very first moment that Dartz laid eyes on the small Atem. All the man had wished was that he could postpone it somehow yet nothing worked. The clothes, as huge as they were, did nothing to hide the slim yet firm body underneath. Trying to keep the boy inside did nothing to prevent that sunkissed skin to lose its tan. Dartz could have poured dirt on Atem yet his strange hair would have shown its tri colours and blindfolding him to keep those eyes of his from being seen was ridiculous. All of his hard work in hiding him was withering away and there wasn't a thing he could have done about it. Dartz cursed, the moment he found that insolent child… Oh, there was Mana, she always knew where his stepson was. He made sure the look on his face indicated to her that she wasn't able to escape him somehow. Mana stayed in place knowing it was pointless to leave, he was bound to follow._

"_Master Dartz, is there anything you need?" She asked with a simple curtsey. _

_He replied swiftly, "I have been searching for Atem everywhere and alas it's as if he magically vanished. Is there any hope of you knowing where he is or did he finally learn how to fly?"_

_Mana knew that Dartz was going to look for Atem and sure enough, she was being asked. It was a good thing that she was prepared for something like this and she had made sure that Atem had taken with him the necessary things to make this lie believable. All that need to happen now was that Atem had to remember to bring the things back with him and Mahado. Yet before she was able to answer Master Dartz, Young Master Leon appeared asking about food, she tried to hide her smile at this. Yet again before she could answer, Young Master Siegfried came out wondering if the alterations to his clothes had been done yet. Master Dartz had managed to silence them both before gesturing to Mana to continue._

"_To answer your question Master Dartz, no Atem has yet to master flight. I sent him to fetch me more apples for the apple pies we were going to be selling for farmers market tomorrow. In the meantime, is there anything I can do for you?" She asked._

_He shook his head, "Well, I would ask you to fetch Leon a light snack and Siegfried his clothing but I suppose you have no idea who is doing that as you and Atem are in charge of the pies..."_

"_Well if Young Master Leon wants an apple I can get him one…as for Young Master Siegfried, you might need to ask another servant about his clothes. I have no idea who's in charge of that..."_

_Siegfried made a huffing noise and was about to turn around to go to his room when he stopped in his tracks. He stared outside for a moment and smirked brightly before turning back around again._

_He then said before skipping off to his room, "Father I've found your little vagabond…and he's not alone. You aren't going to like this at all."_

_Before Leon got a chance to look outside, the door opened to reveal Atem along with Mahado. Both of them paused for a moment when they saw Mana and Dartz staring at them. Leon had taken the chance to leave to his room as fast as he could, forgetting the apple he was promised. Mana smiled brightly and made her way to Mahado and pulled him into a light hug. She noted that Atem bring back the basket full of apples that hid the clothing he had worn at court. Dartz also noticed the basket and assumed that Mana was saying the truth but that sure as hell didn't explain Mahado._

"_M'lord," Mahado said as he cleared his throat, "I was released as I worked off your-my debt. They told me I was free to leave. So I did and I ran into Atem collecting apples, I am still welcomed here right?"_

_Atem, Mana and the other servants around stared at Dartz intently. They all could see the wheels turning in his head. Even Siegfried and Leon snuck out of their rooms to take a look at their father as he was contemplating these things. There really wasn't much that Dartz could say that would surprise them all but the servants were praying that he wasn't going to try to sell Mahado back._

_Dartz cleared his throat, "As long as the debt is paid off, this is your home. Now go do something useful like…fetch a chicken. Atem, fetch an apple and go take it to Leon then go with Mana. Mana, finish those pies and will someone find my son's clothes? He needs the alterations done today. He has to go see Prince Seth play a game of chess tomorrow…"_

_As soon as the master of the house left the room, all of the servants sighed in relief. Then they all went to go greet Mahado. While that was going on, Atem went to take two apples to Leon. The younger boy smiled at him when he entered the room. _

"_So, how did Mahado really get freed?" Leon asked, fully knowing how these things worked. _

_Atem pressed a finger to his lips, "Those that need to know, already do."_

_Leon didn't press the subject any longer but he was positive that Atem had something to do with it, he just wasn't sure how. It wasn't like he was going to tell his father anything, they both knew that he wouldn't have spoken a single word but Atem wanted to make sure that someone didn't hear him. Heaven knows who is listening in nowadays. _

_Once Atem re-entered the kitchen, he heard Mahado scolding Mana on her actions. She fought back while whispering that if it wasn't for her coming up with the ruse, that he wouldn't have been freed. In Atem's mind it made since but he was sure that Mahado wasn't really caring at the moment. Finally the arguing stopped and the girl huffed and focused on her pies with the help of Atem under the watchful eye of Mahado who was working on getting the chicken de-feathered. _

_By the end of the day, all of the servants knew the real story of how Mahado was freed and they were all extremely grateful to Atem and Mana. In honour of the older man's freedom and the bravery/recklessness of the younger two, a small party was thrown in one of the sheds on the property. The servants who set it up had made sure that it was far enough that Dartz wasn't going to hear them. They had some music which meant most of the younger ones were dancing which included Mahado's two little rebels, as he was affectionately calling them. _

_The wise youthful looking man was rather happy that the two he had looked after so carefully did have the gall to do what they did. Yet he also didn't want to encourage them to keep on doing it. It was dangerous, illegal and if caught, Atem could be in prison for the rest of his life or killed. Either option wasn't a good choice for the young man. He didn't want to fail on the promise he had made with his Mistress before she had passed concerning that son of hers. Yet at this moment, watching that overgrown child dancing with Mana and seeing the wide smiles, he wasn't as worried as he would have been. Everyone was rather content yet the wheels of change were turning, even if it was going extremely slow._

_The next day, Seth was disappointed that Akai had failed to make an appearance to the chess match. He frowned ever so slightly but he still beat the man he was going against. Not many people were surprised, not even Siegfried. Everyone who had placed a bet knew that Seth was going to win as the prince always won the matches he played. As he was leaving the courtyard with Kisara, he bumped into Siegfried. The Prince was always a bit uneasy with the other man but he never showed this uneasiness. _

"_I was wondering if you and the talented artist Kisara wanted to tour the Farmers market with myself and my family," Siegfried said with a smile that seemed a little too perfect._

_Kisara, curious about the Farmers marked and Seth, wondering if he was going to bump into Akai there said yes. _

_Before the chess match was over, Atem, Mana and Mahado had been selling their pies when Lord Akefia Touzoku passed by their stand and looking at the pies. He always bought things from their stand and was also a great friend of Dartz. Mahado wasn't too fond of the man and always told Atem to be wary of that man. Lord Akefia was famous for doing the dirty deeds that none of the noblemen had the guts to do and anyone who was friends with him had to have hands as dirty as the Lord's if not more. This time the scar-faced man, examined the pies and most of the other things they were selling and then took a good look at Atem. He licked his lips lightly, before they formed a sly smile. _

"_How much will I have to pay for three pies and a barrel of that barley?" He asked in a pleasant tone._

_Atem simply replied, "If you could give me one piece of gold, I would be more than satisfied, but I guess than ten pieces of silver would do if you're not feeling that generous."_

"_I will give you two pieces of gold if you would be so kind as to come with me, Dear Atem," Akefia said showing the gold pieces. _

_The instant that the words escaped Touzoku's lips, Mahado had pulled Atem away from the Lord's grasp. The action caused Akefia to laugh albeit the laugh had a tinge of wickedness to it that didn't fall deaf to Mahado's ears. He was still looking over at the other man seriously. _

"_Relax Old man," Akefia said, "I was only kidding that time. I know that Dear Atem is worth more than two pieces of gold. Even you know that."_

_Mahado rolled his eyes, "It might as well have been a joke but Atem is not for sale nor will he ever be."_

"_That is where you are wrong. If you have the right amount of money, anyone is for sale. It's all on the price and I promise you, I will obtain Atem one of these days. Just you wait," The man said as he took out the ten pieces of silver and laid them on the counter. _

_Mahado glared at the man and waited for him to leave before he cursed ever so lightly. Neither Mana nor Atem bothered to say anything at the moment. There really was nothing either of them could say that would even help in this situation. It was true, whatever Lord Akefia wanted, he usually got they were only hoping that he was going to be wrong this time. After a few minutes of silence, Mahado looked up and smirked. _

_He turned to Atem, "I suggest you go hide or something."_

"_Why?" The other asked._

_The older man replied, "Because I see the prince."_

_Sure enough, he looked up and there was Prince Seth walking with Siegfried and on their way over to where they were. Cursing silently, the young man gathered his things and ran off so the other didn't see him. He didn't want to get caught and reveled, especially in front of his Step-family._

* * *

Yami felt his phone buzzing and he wasn't sure if he wanted to answer it or not. He had just told **BlueEyes1025** about the predicament he was in. Well, not the entire thing where he saved Kaiba Mokuba from boxes falling over them, he didn't want to let that out. All he has basically said was that he did something nice for someone else and didn't expect someone to pay him back especially be invited to dinner of all things. All of his friends that heard Kaiba Seto asking him had told him that he should say yes and go. As much as he would have loved to do that, he couldn't find himself saying yes without a proper reason. The phone buzzed again, thinking it would be wise to see what his friend had written him, he unlocked his phone and gazed at the message.

_**{Well, I can understand why you are a bit hesitant. It seems like you don't know this other person to well. But it's not going to be you and him alone now is it?}**_

'_**No it isn't going to be just me and him, he's bringing someone else with him,'**_ Yami wrote back, not bothering to mention it was the little brother but at the moment, that little fact didn't seem to matter.

_**{Then I don't see why you are worried, I don't think these people are going to try anything but I don't think you are worried about that. its money isn't it?}**_

Yami sighed, so it seemed that his dear friend did know him pretty well by now, didn't he? He was worried about money, Kaiba Seto was basking in money and he wasn't. If the blue-eyed man wanted to go somewhere fancy, Yami didn't really have the finances to actually have dinner and his nicest clothing wasn't that nice now thinking about it. For some reason, he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of the other teen or his brother. Normally he wouldn't care but why was this different? He tried not to think about it as he wrote back to the other male as quickly as possible so he didn't delete it.

'_**As lame as it is…I don't want to make a fool out of myself in front of this person and I'm kind of poor,'**_ He had written and sent.

It was kind of annoying as it was hard to write. He knew his other friends wouldn't have understood him but for some strange reason, he had a feeling that the other male would understand him. It might have been wishful thinking but it worked for him. He sighed once more as he thought that perhaps swallowing his pride wasn't the wisest thing he should have done at the moment. Then his phone buzzed and what he read, he wasn't expecting it the other to say.

_**{If you can get along with me just fine, I think you can get along with this other person. So, I wouldn't worry about you making a fool out of yourself. As for money, if you were asked, then don't worry about paying. It's a common courtesy when a person invites the other to dinner, that person pays. When I invite other people to dinner with me, I always pay no matter what they order. If I couldn't afford it, I wouldn't have invited in the first place.}**_

Yami did have to agree, Kaiba did seem like the kind of person who wouldn't have invited anyone if he couldn't afford it. Everyone at school knew that Kaiba could definitely afford the finer things in life for him and his brother and perhaps a thousand people for a few years. Yet he still had that unsettling feeling and it didn't make any since to him. He wasn't worried but why did he feel uneasy? He tried not to think about it too much when he finished his chores and got ready for bed. He still talked to his texting buddy a moment longer before calling it a night. When he fell asleep, he had dreams about parties and food, none of it seemed to make since and the next morning, he ignored it.

Going to class that next day, he had a newfound confidence yet the thought of talking to Kaiba was still strange to him. Again, he couldn't place this feeling as he had seldom felt these sort of things before. He sighed a bit walked up to the other male, who was reading a book, with all of the confidence that he could ever muster in his entire life.

He cleared his throat, "Kaiba?"

"I take it you have made your choice?" The brunette asked.

He nodded, "I'm accepting your offer. You can pick me up at the Game Shop. I would rather be picked up there than the house."

"Alright, I'll send the car for you at thirty minutes past six. Is that alright with you?" Seto inquired in a business-like manner.

Yami agreed, "That works for me. Now is there anything I need to make sure of before I set foot in that limo or not?"

"Just don't be late," He replied before going back to his book.

Well, that had ended wonderfully, Yami thought sarcastically as he sat down at his desk and took out some papers. If he was going to be passing notes to Ryou, he was at least going to be doing it secretly as he possibly could. Ryou did write to him about how happy he was that he managed to say yes to the invite to dinner. But still, Yami was just a bit nervous about Pegasus finding out. He really didn't want to know what the man would say if he found out. So to prevent that, he made sure that Anzu and Jou understood that they weren't allowed to tell Marik or Malik anything about him going to have dinner with Kaiba Seto.

As an added cover, Ryou invited Yami to stay over at his apartment after the date, Ryuji was going to be there so it wasn't going to seem too suspicious. Pegasus, had accepted this and granted him the permission to sleepover at the white haired- boy's apartment. Knowing that this part of the plan had worked did set Yami's mind into some ease but still, there was a slight chance that Pegasus would find out that something was up, even with all of their precautions. It was mostly that part that had made Yami so concerned about the entire thing.

"Is this going to be worth it?" Yami asked as they were on their way back to the house.

Anzu replied, "Of course it is! Everyone is doing their best in making sure that you are going to that dinner with Kaiba. You need to have some sort of faith that everything is going to work out. You are going to have a great time, I just know it."

"How do you even know that?" Jou asked skeptically.

The girl replied, "Woman's intuition."

* * *

Friday had come all too soon, according to Yami. The day before, he made sure the clothes he was going to wear were already at the game shop so there wasn't much to worry about on that end of the spectrum. The issue was getting to the game shop and making sure that no one that Pegasus knew was going to spot him at the game shop. Luckily, Yugi and his grandfather had been one step ahead of Yami. They called Pegasus and asked him if Yami and the others could come to the shop to help out with setting up for the upcoming weekend. The weekend was going to be an important day because that's was when they were going to start putting up their holiday prices, sales and decorations. Knowing how important the launch of the holiday shopping was going to be, the man had granted permission for his foster children to go and help out. Pegasus made sure to confirm that Yami was going to Ryou's that night and wouldn't be seen until either Saturday or Sunday. The young teen confirmed it with his foster father and even offered to text Pegasus when he actually got to Ryou's.

Once the three entered their car and headed for the game shop, they all sighed in deep relief. They managed to get Yami over to the shop. The hard part was basically over, now all they were going to have to do was get Yami ready for this dinner and soon he was going to be on his marry way and not having to worry if Pegasus saw him or not. Pegasus liked to have dinner at home with his boys and Kaiba Seto was famous for being discrete in his outings. Unfortunately, once they entered the building, their plan caught a little snag. Examining a game was none other than Bakura, a college of Pegasus'. Bakura was known for his shady ways of doing business and Pegasus liked to say that Bakura did 'dirty deeds' and they were, 'done dirt cheap.' Then the man would laugh at his inside joke that none of teens seemed to understand.

Bakura smiled at them slyly, "Why hello there, children. Don't mind me, I'm looking around for a game. I'm having people over on Sunday and I wanted to have a game ready for my guests to play."

"Sorry Mr. Bakura but we don't sell Quija boards here. We only sell family friendly games," Jou retorted sarcastically and truthfully.

Bakura rolled his eyes, "Just because I'm into the occult, doesn't mean that all of my friends are into the same thing Katsuya. You should really learn how to respect the beliefs of your elders."

"Not when your planning on making a human sacrifice or something," Jou shot back.

Bakura once again found himself rolling his eyes, "I don't do that sort of thing and even if I did, you wouldn't be my first choice."

The man with the strangely shaped bunny ear hairstyle walked around the small store and soon found himself face to face with Yami. Everyone, even Pegasus knew, that Bakura had this strange sort of attraction to Yami even though the latter was a few years the other's junior, in other words, jailbait. But that didn't seem to stop the older man from being straightforward about his attraction. Needless to say, it was too strange for everyone else to be comfortable with. Yami, having the feeling that the other was going to say something he didn't want to hear, handed the man a game.

"It's called twister and the game is self explanatory, you need a good amount of people to play it so with your friends over, it would be a fun game at the least," Yami spoke, "Especially if they all that raunchy since of humour as you do."

For a moment, the teen had thought that maybe he had said way too much but when Bakura began to laugh, he found himself calming down to say the least. Everyone else had been thinking the exact same thing as Yami and even they found relief when the man began to laugh wholeheartedly. His laugh might have been a bit strange but it was better than getting him angry. Yami, Jou and Anzu had once seen Bakura get angry and it wasn't a pretty sight to see.

The man walked up to the counter and paid for the game, "Yami, Yami, Yami, you just have a way with words that I find the most entertaining. Still, I long for the day that you come and live with me, maybe then we can play this game together when no one else is watching us. Think about how fun that would be…"

Chuckling to himself, Bakura left the game shop leaving all of the other occupants heaving sighs of relief. He was always such a strange one and none of the current occupants of the shop ever did like having him hanging about. There had to be some way of being free of him but how? Unless he had something else he thought was worthier of obtaining they were all sure that he would stop at nothing to have Yami in his clutches. Anzu sensing the very gloomy mood among them decided that she was going to change it.

"Alright guys, Kaiba Seto is going to be here soon and we need to get Yami looking presentable," She said, "Even if we can't control his hair, we can at least get him dressed decently enough."

Jou smirked, "Although I'm sure that nothing Yami wears is going to change Kaiba's mind, maybe if we get him smelling nicer…"

"You guys seriously make me sound like I'm some kind of street urchin or something," Yami said rolling his eyes playfully.

Yugi smiled, "Okay, if you guys are going to magically transform Yami, you are going to have to do it now. We only have an hour and thirty minutes thanks to Bakura's interruption."

For some reason, Yami and leather always seemed to look good together and they decided that at least for tonight they were going to change that. In the end, Yami was dressed in black slacks and a deep red button up that brought out his eyes according to Anzu. They couldn't do much to his hair that they hadn't done already but that was alright. It was a little chilly outside so he had a jacket that matched his pants but Yami didn't put it on at the moment.

The teen was distracted with other emotions that were flowing through him that he couldn't name. He had never felt this sort of things before and he couldn't understand the concept of them. He bit his lip momentarily as he waited for the car. He knew that Kaiba Seto was prompt for everything and looking at the clock as the minutes were ticking away was causing him to lightly panic. But what for? Why was he panicking so much? Kaiba was something else, that was for sure but surely he couldn't be that interesting to Yami? They had only seen each other at school and he had seen the other play Duel Monsters before but they never even spoke to each other. They were rivals for the perfect grade but was there something else to their rivalry? He shook his head at these thoughts. He was not some blushing school girl who wrote love letters to Kaiba on a daily basis nor would he ever think about doing that. The mere thought of him doing those sorts of things annoyed him. Yet with all of his reasoning, the fact remained when he thought about the other teen his emotions went haywire. Why?

All of his questionings still brought no answers to him and that was when he saw the car pull up. Taking a deep breath as he wondered why he was nervous. It was only dinner, it wasn't like Kaiba was going to take the other to Paris. The thought of that made Yami smile, he was positive that Kaiba had no idea how to be romantic with anyone. Looking back at his friends for encouragement, he left the building and entered the car.

The car was as nice on the inside as it was on the outside but that didn't stop the strange silence. Kaiba was on his phone and Mokuba was playing a game. How could two brothers be in the same car and not even speak to each other? That was strange. When Yami sat down, Mokuba stopped his game and smiled brightly at him.

"I'm so happy you agreed," Mokuba said with a cheerful smile and a hushed tone.

Yami nodded, "Well, I figured it was rude to say no and I kind of wanted to see you again. How are you feeling? Why are we whispering?"

"I'm fine and I've been fine, it was you I was worried about. Thanks for helping me out there. It means a lot to me and my brother, more than he'll ever tell you," Then Mokuba leaned closer, "We're whispering because of brother's call. It's rather important."

Curious he asked, "What's it about?"

"I don't know. I never ask him those sorts of things, even if I did, he wouldn't give me a straight answer," the younger boy answered honestly, "But I think it has something to do with the party…"

Yami made a face, "What party?"

"You two really don't know the meaning of whispering do you?"

The two looked up to see Seto sending them both a look of annoyance. He has just hung up from the conference call only to hear the two in front of him whispering rather loudly about him. Seto crossed his arms and simply looked out the window.

"It's nice to know that you can dress," Seto said, "It's a shame that your hair is a whole other story."

Yami rolled his eyes, "This is how my hair actually is. No matter how much I try to comb it or do anything else to it, it still manages to look the same."

"Oh please, everyone's hair can be controlled," Seto retorted.

Yami shook his head, "I highly doubt that. Yugi and Mr. Moto have the exact same hair as mine, if they can't find anything how can you be so sure that I can find something to control my hair?"

"You guys do realize that you both are arguing about hair right?" Mokuba said as he let out a few chuckles.

The youngest Kaiba noticed the way that his older brother and Yami scoffed and looked away from each other. If this was how they acted in front of each other in the car, he was wondering how they would act around each other during dinner. Mokuba had made all of the plans ahead of time, they were going to be given a private seat so no one would see them. Mostly because Seto didn't like others seeing him dine with his brother but he had other reasons as well. So when the car pulled to a stop, Mokuba was the first out of the car, dragging Yami behind him.

* * *

**How did you like it? TELL ME!**

**Thanks to the stats thing on this site, I know there are people reading this so that is a comfort that I'm not just talking to myself. I hope that next week I can get back on the ball and finish the chapter much earlier than I just did. I'm trying to pace myself but that doesn't seem to work out well for me. **

**I hope you all have a great weekend and next week. I can't believe it's freaking November already. Time seemed to pass doesn't it? But I digress, I'll see you all next week!**

**With Love,**

**SanguisRubeus**


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